Longtime Saratoga veteran driver Dan Cappello Jr. did something Saturday night that no other driver before him has done in the previous 70 years of racing at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The 53-year-old reinsman won for the 5,000th time in his illustrious career on Saturday, piloting Cheyenne Cam to victory in wire-to-wire fashion. Cappello became the first driver to celebrate win number 5,000 at the Spa.

One other current local driver has reach that plateau and that is Wally Hennessey. A national Hall of Famer, Hennessey has well more than 8,000 career victories, but he did not secure the bulk of his wins nor achieve the milestone 5,000th victory while competing locally. On Saturday night, with a packed house at the raceway, Cappello entered unchartered waters.

After learning the sport of harness racing as a youth from his father, Cappello began driving in the late 70s at Monticello Raceway. Following about a five-year stint there, Cappello came to Saratoga and became the Johnny Page Award winner in 1983, an award that recognizes the track's top up-and-coming driver, following a season in which the young reinsman finished sixth in the driver standings.

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Cappello became a Spa regular at that point and has finished amongst the top drivers every year since. That's a strong 30 years of success in the sulky. While he did compile some wins while wintering at Pompano Park in Florida for several years, Saratoga has been Danny's home track and it was here where he reached his most recent and ultra-impressive milestone.

In 1993, Cappello registered his 1,000th win with a horse named BJ's Power and soon after, his career just took off. In '95, Danny won his first driving title and subsequently was named Horseman of the Year at Saratoga, an award he would go on to win the following two years as well.

Ever since the mid 90s, Dan Cappello Jr's name has been near the top of the driver standings each and every year and the Ballston Spa resident and avid golf enthusiast has won the driving title eight times. Though Billy Dobson, who is in line to win his third consecutive driving championship this season, has been a dominant force in the sulky of late, Cappello has stuck right with the youngster in the standings and currently sits in second once again.

Cappello has recorded all of his milestone wins right here at Saratoga Casino and Raceway, scoring victory No. 3,000 with young trotter Little Haus in September of 2004 and No. 4,000 with pacer New Release, who went wire-to-wire, a method Cappello has perfected throughout his career.

Danny has been named Horseman of the Year at the track four times, most recently in 2007. Of all of the many accomplishments that Cappello has achieved, registering win No. 5,000 might be the most impressive. No other driver has in track history has ever reached that milestone at the track. Danny has exhibited incredible durability and consistency and combined those characteristics with his natural talent en route to reaching the 5,000 win plateau.

On Saturday night, needing just one win, Cappello got it out of the way fairly early on in the evening, even before the Joe Gerrity Jr Memorial Pacing Series got underway. It was there that Cappello won for the 5,001st time and nearly set a track record in the process.

Dancin Yankee drew the rail for his local debut and he and Cappello sat the pocket in their $25,000 division of the series for open pacers. The Josh Green trainee sat patiently behind the leader who set blistering fractions throughout the mile before getting up to win in 1:51.1, just a fifth of a second off the all-time track record. The first leg of the series' other winners were BJ's Bequia (Billy Dobson) and Rock To Glory (Greg Merton). The $130,000 final of the Gerrity series is set to take place on Saturday, Aug. 18.

Dan Cappello Jr. plunged into the record books on Saturday night after making his 5,000th trip to the winner's circle to become the first Spa regular to accomplish that feat. In the next few years it is possible that the milestone will get hit again. Drivers Kim Crawford and Mark Beckwith have each eclipsed the 4,500 win mark and would be the most likely candidates to reach No. 5,000. Retired Spa regular Frank Coppola Jr had just shy of 4,700 victories before hanging up the silks after the 2010 season. Congratulations to Saratoga's Dan Cappello Jr. on his historic accomplishment.

While we don't know how many victories Cappello is capable of scoring, one thing is for sure, with 5,002 already under his belt, Cappello is still as sharp as ever in the sulky and is showing no signs of letting up.

Live racing takes place every Tuesday through Saturday night in the month of August at Saratoga Casino and Raceway with a first post each night of 7:20 p.m. Until next week, I'm Mike Sardella wishing you the best of luck and we'll see you at the finish line.